Emilie the Bee Keeper
Alec's father, Ralph, has ten stands of honey bees! We are going to rob the hives :oD An average stand has about 60,000 bees. The shorter stands probably have at least that many, while the taller stands have at least 100,000.
Preparing.
Ralph is showing me how to tie the veil.
Carol and Alec are in the garage, waiting to receive the frames full of honey.
The Bee Keepers.
Checking the first hive. The shorter stands on the end are Ralphs newest swarms from this spring.
Each stand has a brood box (the largest box on the bottom) where the queen continuously lays eggs. The thinner boxes on top are called supers, each containing nine frames. One frame can hold over a quart of honey!
We are checking to make sure that the frames are full and capped off before taking them.
Heavier than you might expect.
Taking them away from the largest swarms.
Ralph.
Removing the frames to be taken into the garage.
Smoking the bees doesn't actually make them "sleepy." They think the hive is on fire so they eat as much honey as they can, and end up too full to be active.
Shaking and brushing off the bees that are still clinging to the frame.
If only you could hear them as well.
The remaing comb from the bottom of the container after a night's draining. The bees will recycle every drop of honey.
The white comb has been picked almost completely clean in a matter of hours. The yellow comb is still honey saturated and has just been put out.
Out of the suits. I am a hot sweaty mess, and gearing up to scrape all of the frames.
Carol slices honey comb to put in jars. Honey with the comb is usually the first to sell, either for it's look, or for eating! Ralph particularly loves to eat the comb.
Scraping the first honey. It was incredibly dark!
The color of the honey was different all throughout the hives. From the darkness, you could tell which trees were in bloom at the time. This darker honey was mostly collected from poplar trees. It is thicker, richer, and has a molasses- like taste. This is Carol's favorite :o)
All of the honey was scraped into a large draining bin, which separated the comb from the honey as it dripped through. Even though some of the honey was light and clear, the end result was more similiar to this darker variety.
We specifically saved some clear honey to fill these jars. Very pretty :o)
Having a blast :o)
This golden color is my favorite. Not quite as thin and tangy as the sourwood, and not quite as thick and rich as the poplar. I ate more honey in two days than I did in the last 5 years!
Absolutely gorgeous.
The draining box. Everything goes in!
The scraped frames are continuing to drain in another container. At least another quart dripped from them over night.
The honey needs to be capped by the bees before we can rob it. Meaning, they have finished filling the comb, have fanned their wings to dehydrate the honey, and coated it with a protective layer of beeswax. The moisture in uncapped honey can sour and ruin a whole batch. The edges of this frame are uncaped, and the caped has already been scraped.
Beautifully clear, sourwood honey - Alec's favorite.
An example of capped honey.
After scraping, and before. The sheet in the middle that looks like honey comb is actually a form made from stamped beeswax. The forms are replaced every spring, and help the bees create their comb more uniformly.
These bees got carried away and built their comb to the very edges of the frame.
The larger chambers once held "brood." i.e. eggs.
These bees are cleaning the frames we were finished with. They will clean every last drop of honey from them, and take it back to the hives to continue filling the supers that are still on the stands. Later in August, Ralph will rob the hives one more time before taking all the supers off and leaving the bees alone for the winter.
I went out later to take the closer shots. I was not wearing a suit, but did not mind being completely surrounded by bees. They were constantly lighting on me, but never bothered me. I managed to get a couple pictures of this guy on my upper arm.
Frames in supers are set back out for cleaning.
Does that apron look familiar? :o)
Ralph and Alec.
Checking a few supers Ralph had taken off in advance.
I think I might have a new hobby :oD